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Christmas is powered by tradition. More than any other holiday, it’s the one that we spend our entire lives trying to make it feel like it did when we were 5 years old. You try to recapture that magic by going back home and sleeping in your twin bed, or by getting another tacky gift from that aunt that just discovered “Gangnam Style,” or by carefully placing that snapped-in-half popsicle ornament you made in 1989 back on the tree for one more year. But the quickest way to recapture that magic is to rewatch all the movies, specials, and TV episodes that lit up your TV screens way back when.
White Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Mary Tyler Moore working alone at WJM on Christmas Eve, It’s a Wonderful Life, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the Dick Van Dyke cast’s song and dance, Home Alone, Frosty the Snowman, Blanche getting hot and bothered by a Santa, A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation–need I go on? The classics are the classics, and Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without them. But isn’t it time that we all sprinkled some new classics into rotation? We can keep Bing and Lucy and Ralphie while also making room for Abed, Buddy, and Justin. The more the merrier, literally!
That brings us to this list, Decider’s definitive 21st century Christmas canon! Team Decider put our heads together to come up with and narrow down a list of the Christmas movies, episodes, sketches, and viral videos that deserve to be mainstays in your home moving forward. From a claymation crisis to Ludachristmas and Chrismukkah, these are the new classics–presented in release date order–that you need to stream every season.
'Saturday Night Live,' "I Wish It Was Christmas Today"
Release Date: December 9, 2000
For a holiday all about peace, joy, and goodwill, Christmas really lends itself to novelty songs. From “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” to the entire Chipmunks œuvre, werido tunes that annoy just as many people as they delight are a staple of the season. That’s the niche filled by SNL’s low-key, low-concept Christmas ditty “Season’s Greetings” (more popularly known as “I Wish It Was Christmas Today”). But, as with everything this century, this jingle is covered in layers of conflicting sincerity and irony; it’s a joke song where the only joke is a childlike simplicity and reverence for the best day of the year. Pair that with the Peanuts gang-esque simplistic moves of Horatio Sanz, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Kattan, and Tracy Morgan (who is literally just there to jog-shimmy, stone-faced to the camera) and you get a skit that makes you wait two minutes for the big joke–a joke that doesn’t come.
That’s why “I Wish It Was Christmas Today” endures as a modern classic. It’s as bizarre as an “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth,” but it’s still joyously reverent. You can hear it in Sanz’s whispered voice, a childlike wonder that adults indulge once every year when Christmas draws near.
And like every single classic Christmas song, “I Wish It Was Christmas Today” has been covered. Julian Casablancas’ cover pumps up the arrangement, dials the Crosby-style crooning up to 11, and hits you like a big ol’ swig of peppermint schnapps.
'Elf'
Release Date: November 7, 2003
No other movie released in the post-Home Alone era has become as much of a Christmas classic as quickly as Elf. You can actually chart its meteoric rise from box office hit to perennial favorite, with Buddy the Elf becoming basically as big a deal as Rudolph and Frosty were 50 years ago. All this is for good reason, too, because Elf might just be the most celebratory Christmas movie ever made. Its design is a direct homage to the ’60s Rankin/Bass specials, Buddy and Jovie’s whimsically G-rated romance feels lifted from a 1950s holiday musical, and the tale of turning a scrooge into a believer is pure Dickens. All of this magic is topped off by Will Ferrell’s wholly sincere performance; he’s 6’3″ of Christmas magic crammed in yellow tights.
But what makes Elf a Christmas movie for the ages is where it doesn’t pay tribute to the past but instead feels totally modern. Those brilliant non-sequiturs (“I don’t know, Connie–I’ve never declawed kittens before!), the frequent cameos from comedy MVPs (Andy Richter, Amy Sedaris, Matt Walsh, Kyle Gass), and Peter Dinklage’s intense AF performance feel so purely Elf–and there’s nothing else like it.
'Love Actually'
Release Date: November 7, 2003
Over the past decade, the Christmas romcom has become a staple of the holiday season thanks to cable channels like Hallmark, Lifetime, and Freeform churning out a hundred every single year. You can probably trace the rise in this trend all the way back to Love Actually, a worldwide smash hit that forever tied the romcom genre to the yuletide season. Here’s the thing, though: Love Actually is still the best Christmas romcom ever (sorry A Christmas Prince), cramming a dozen love stories that would have made for A-level TV movies on their own into one truly heartwarming, heartbreaking, and then heartwarming again feature film. Like Elf, this movie has become a staple of the holiday season–and with good reason! Who wouldn’t want to spend a cold winter’s night cozying up to Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Martin Freeman… okay, this one’s getting too personal.
'The O.C.,' "The Best Chrismukkah Ever"
Release Date: December 3, 2003
Sometimes Christmas, with it’s annual world-dominating ways, can feel too restrictive. That sometimes leads TV characters to just do their own thing. On the polar end of the grievance-laden testosterone display that was Seinfeld’s Festivus is Chrismukkah, a Christmas/Hanukkah hybrid created by everyone’s favorite TV crush Seth Cohen. Chrismukkah was more than just another one of Seth’s over-the-top inclinations though, and it could have been played as a joke. Instead, Chrismukkah is treated as Seth’s way of celebrating all sides of his heritage, one that he eagerly wants to share with everyone in his life.
And in true holiday romcom style (this aired a month after Love Actually), “The Best Chrismukkah Ever” kicks up the romantic tension of the Seth/Summer/Anna love triangle in a scene that culminates with–what else?–a sexy “Santa Baby” number. Inclusivity and romance, what more could you want this time of year?
'The Office,' "Christmas Party"
Release Date: December 6, 2005
It took a little bit, but when the U.S. adaptation of The Office got good, it instantly got great. That shift happened not too long before the show’s first-ever Christmas episode, a Season 2 installment written by future Parks & Recreation and The Good Place mastermind Michael Schur. This episode brings the laughs, especially when Michael turns the office’s harmless Secret Santa gift exchange into a Yankee Swap bloodbath. Sidenote: You can really tell this is from 2005 because the hot item is a video iPod.
But if this was just 22 minutes of solid jokes, it wouldn’t land on this list. It is that, to be sure, but it’s Jim’s desperation when he watches the teapot he got for Pam–complete with sentimental additional gifts nestled inside!–make its way into Dwight’s hands that adds a real emotional pull to the proceedings.
'The Holiday'
Release Date: November 29, 2006
A solid decade before Airbnb revolutionized the way people travel, Nancy Meyers got there first in the cross-Atlantic romantic comedy that’s as cozy as a turtleneck sweater. Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet star as two frustrated women looking for a big change instead of muddling through the holidays at home. They swap apartments, Diaz crashing in a quaint English cottage and Winslet taking up residence in a L.A. mansion. They also experience the truest Christmas miracle of all: falling in love! The Holiday does what every Christmas romcom since Love Actually has failed to do: it pared the cast down to a manageable size and somehow lost none of the wonder.
John Roberts' "The Christmas Tree"
Release Date: December 12, 2006
You know him as the voice of Linda Belcher on Bob’s Burgers, but John Roberts earned his spot in the 21st Century Christmas Canon for something he did years before. This video, not even two-minutes of standard-def mid-’00s footage, has become a Christmas essential because of one thing: truth.
Roberts is your mom. He’s playing my mom, and he’s playing my aunts–and I’m from Tennessee! But while accents may be regional (how wild is it to see this demo tape version of Linda being oh so Linda?!), what this mom’s saying is universal. We. All. Know. This. Mom. From the little dances to the exhausted pleading to the tossed-off orders (“and pick up all that shit”), Roberts creates such a clear character in every teeny vignette. It’s endlessly quotable, endlessly relatable, and–as is true with all the holiday greats–pulls you back to the warm Christmas memories of your past.
'Saturday Night Live,' "Dick in a Box"
Release Date: December 16, 2006
Okay, here’s the modern day “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”–except this 21st century novelty song is actually brilliant. Justin Timberlake’s entire 2006 visit to Saturday Night Live is worthy of revisiting, sure, but it’s his first team-up with Andy Samberg and The Lonely Island that’s really stood the test of time. “Dick in a Box” is a jam, and not just a Christmas jam. Yes, it is specifically about gift-wrapping your junk for your romantic partner at Christmas time, but the song is just a good song. Seriously. It’s catchier than “Jingle Bells” and flawlessly recreates Color Me Badd’s whole vibe.
While this is a novelty song, it’s how we do novelty songs nowadays, son. It’s not enough to just take a goofy premise like asking for a hippo for Christmas and exhaust that for two minutes. “Dick in a Box” levels it up, putting actual artistry–listen to that breakdown!–into a pitch-perfect parody that predates the current ’90s nostalgia craze by, like, 10 years! “Dick in a Box” is timeless. It’s the “White Christmas” of dick jokes.
'30 Rock,' "Ludachristmas"
Release Date: December 13, 2007
Even though we all try to will it into existence every year, there’s no such thing as the perfect holiday. Every family has problems, and the added pressure of the season can make people pop. Take Liz Lemon’s family, for example, a blandly wholesome bunch pushing through serious trauma (Liz’s brother still thinks it’s 1985 due to a head injury!). Jack Donaghy feels the pull of a picture perfect family, gleefully agreeing to join them in family photos and an ice-skating trip–until his own mother (the deliciously conniving Elaine Stritch) turns everyone into screaming messes. “Ludachristmas” gets to the heart of what Christmas is: an imperfect day for imperfect people to share their imperfect love. Also, come on, this episode gave us the portmanteau “Ludachristmas” which is more than enough to get it on this list.
'Community,' "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas"
Release Date: December 9, 2010
Christmas is painful. The point of holiday sitcom episodes, even the ones on this list, is to either gloss over that pain with jokes or acknowledge them fleetingly… and then get to the jokes. “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” is unlike any other Christmas TV episode, even any other Christmas special, in that it exists fully in the overlap of pain and joy, depression and hope that makes December a month unlike any other. There’s real hurt at the heart of this episode, framed as a claymation quest to find the true meaning of Christmas.
What makes this one sing, aside from the songs and Yvette Nicole Brown’s dynamite vocals, is how gutsy it is in every way. From a low-rated show blowing budget and time on old school animation techniques to it daring to posit that Christmas is meaningless, to the way Abed takes his ripped out heart and wears it proudly on his clay sleeve, this one is a winner. If you want to know the meaning of Christmas, it’s “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas.”
'Happy Endings,' "No-Ho-Ho"
Release Date: December 18, 2012
Happy Endings wasn’t long for this world, but the show spread its own brand of twisted holiday cheer in a string of standout Christmas episodes. Season 3’s “No-Ho-Ho” focuses on those most overlooked this time of year: the December 25 babies. When Jane finally comes clean about her real, wintry birthday (even though she is clearly a summer girl), her friends rally around her and promise to put off Christmas for one more day so they can celebrate a new holiday: Jane-mas. As “No-Ho-Ho” hilariously points out, Christmas has a way of creeping in. Be it socks or a craving for eggnog or an uncontrollable urge to blister all your fingers ripping apart shiny wrapping paper, it’s impossible to ignore the jolly juggernaut.
'Krampus'
Release Date: December 4, 2015
There’s always been a dark side to Christmas. A Christmas Carol is a ghost story, after all! And films have long given into the spookier side of the season, in films ranging from 1974’s Black Christmas to 1984’s Gremlins. And then there’s 2015’s Krampus, a haunting celebration of the old European folklore that directly inspired the holiday centuries ago–one packed with creepy clowns, killer wreaths, and truly gutsy performances from Toni Collette and Adam Scott. Christmas can be sweet and sinister; it is the darkest time of the year, after all. Krampus plays with that tension, turning a waning belief in the magic of Christmas into a seasonal treat for a horned demon. We spent the 20th century mostly ignoring Santa Claus’ demonic counterpart. Let’s induct him into the 21st century’s canon just so he’ll leave us alone…
'New Girl,' "Christmas Eve Eve"
Release Date: December 13, 2016
As soon as “Christmas Eve Eve” aired, it was instantly a classic. New Girl never shied away from holidays, turning out the best Thanksgiving episodes this side of Friends and a couple killer Halloween ones too (“Batman-mobile”). Maybe it was due to Zooey Deschanel’s side gig as a provider of indie Christmas tunes with She & Him, or maybe because New Girl was always at its best when it paired riff runs with genuine affection, but their Christmas episodes are next-level special. “Christmas Eve Eve” is the best of the bunch.
There’s another round of Secret Santa, the introduction of Winston’s USPS alter-ego Retired Rear Admiral Jay Garage-A-Roo, Jess’ uptight quest to get Nick the perfect gift (which leads to a Megan Fox cameo), and a truly magical appearance by Christmas icon Darlene Love. Knowing that this episode is the last New Girl Christmas, seeing the look Jess gives each of her best friends while shredded receipts flitter from the roof like snow, it brings the message of New Girl–and of Christmas–home: this is a holiday for your family, and sometimes that family is your friends.
